


but none like you, you shine so bright

by silvergalaxy



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Movie Dates, liam and zayn are very minor characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvergalaxy/pseuds/silvergalaxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let’s get one thing straight, Niall was not going to this movie just because he knew it was during Harry’s shift.</p><p>Okay, so maybe he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	but none like you, you shine so bright

Apparently, tonight was just not Niall’s night.

Louis had dragged him along to see the premiere of Iron Man 3, and while Niall did enjoy the comic, he’s never had the patience to sit through an entire movie without becoming spectacularly bored. 

It was Louis who was asking though, and Niall owed him a few weeks ago when he backed up Niall’s bullshit lie to his father about where he really was so late on a school night.

(That, and the fact that Louis had a lot of embarrassing photos of Niall he could easily spread around like wildfire.)

A couple who were attempting to sit down directly behind them had so much snacks piled high in their arms it was a miracle they weren't falling on anyone, Niall thought, rolling his eyes.

…Well. Niall felt the butter from the popcorn on the back of his neck and before he even had a chance to move, an entire cup of pepsi followed.

Niall would like to lie and say he reacted calmly, but he couldn't help but let out a shout as the ice cold drink met the warm skin of his back.

Heads turned curiously as he jumped up out of instinct, and the man behind him started apologizing profusely.

Niall simply waved him off, sent him a smile that probably looked more like a grimace, and directed his attention to Louis, who was looking torn between amusement and horror.

“Oh my god, Niall,” Louis covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle a chuckle, and Niall narrowed his eyes, which in turn only caused Louis to laugh much harder.

“There’s no way I'm staying here covered in,” Niall took a pause, calculating the mess, “Pepsi and dill pickle popcorn seasoning.”

And with that, he left the theatre, pretending not to hear Clumsy’s hundredth “Sorry!” and Louis’ futile protests of “This was supposed to be guy’s night, damn it, Horan!”

-

Walking out of the theatre covered in movie food was embarrassing to say the least. The concession stands had lines of people who stared at him as he trudged on. 

Grabbing a napkin while passing a stand, he began to wipe down his neck, grumbling about stupid Louis, and stupid pepsi, stupid _movies_ , and how he was never coming back to this theatre again.

“Can I uh, be of any assistance to you?”

Niall turned around, seeing a young worker who was rocking on his feet, gesturing to the mess Niall was in. Niall nodded a bit and smiled somewhat ruefully.

The boy was dressed in uniform, a name tag reading _Harry S._ pinned to the dark grey fabric of his shirt. “What did you do? Jump behind the counter and roll around in our food?” The boy joked, a mischievous glint in his green eyes, as he motioned for Niall to follow him.

Niall huffed, letting out a small laugh and began walking briskly behind Harry. “Yeah, thought it'd be a good idea.”

“I see,” Harry hummed. “How about I get you a clean sweater to wear home? It’s a bit cold out now, it'd be a shame if your heroic mission ended with you catching a cold.”

After voicing his agreement, Niall followed the tall boy towards the employees room, softly shutting the heavy door behind them.

As they entered, another boy looked up, waving at Harry and giving Niall a curious once over.

“What happened to him?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“Someone tripped and dropped their food on me,” replied Niall easily, shrugging in a _what can you do?_ manner.

“Aha, so you didn't roll around behind the counter!” Harry faked a scandalous look which left eyebrow boy slightly confused.

Harry continued farther into the small space, mumbling about clean clothes and pesky customers, leaving the other two boys alone.

“I'm Liam, by the way.” Eyebrow boy said after a moment of calculating the giant mess that Niall was currently in.

“Niall,” he answered, sticking his hand into his jean pocket. The conversation seemed to end there, an awkward silence settling over them. Niall was never very good with silences, and struggled to find something to keep talking about. Luckily, before he blurted out something stupid along the lines of “Is that Harry bloke single?”, the boy himself returned, appearing from around the corner of the cramped space holding a navy hoodie. 

“Niall, eh?” he said, having overheard their conversation.

“Mhm,” Niall murmured. “From Ireland.” He added on, unnecessarily.

Harry nods in an appraising way, extending his arm out. “I’m Harry, and I fully expect you to return that, it’s my favourite.” He said as he passed the sweater over, giving Niall’s hand the slightest squeeze.

“Sure thing, be back before you know it.” Niall says, voice only wavering a little.

“Good, see you around, Niall from Ireland,” Harry laughs, and Niall leaves with a wave, feeling happier than he was all day.

-

Niall arrived home that night with a smile on his face and seven unread text messages from Louis.

( _Where did you go? The movie was fucking ace, Niall. You suck by the way. That shirt wasn't important to you was it? Bc if it was I would feel BAD for laughing. Seriously. Anyways, tomorrow I’m telling you all about how genius it was! Did I mention I would SO do Gwyneth Paltrow?_ )

-

The next week was the premiere of some other movie Louis had been raving about for months, and though Niall couldn't care less, he also couldn’t find the heart to tell Louis he wouldn't go watch it with him.

It also might've been because he still had Harry’s sweater. But Louis didn't need to know that.

-  
Arriving at the bustling theatre, Louis turned towards Niall, attempting to figure out their game plan.

“How about I go ahead and get us our seats while you pick up some snacks?” He said, gesturing over his shoulder towards the entrance to the separate showing rooms. 

“Sure, that should be fine,” Niall spoke as casually as possible, wildly gesturing for Louis to go find the seats. “I’ll just…get the snacks and…” Find the employee's room again. “Come find you.” He finished lamely.

“Ok,” Louis strolled away with an eyeroll and no backwards glance.

“Yeah,” Niall breathed, looking around curiously. “Ok.”

-

That lead to Niall walking aimlessly around the building, completely lost and utterly confused by unlabelled doors and too many moving bodies.

Pressing a hand to forehead, Niall was just about ready to give up and buy his and Louis’ snacks before the lines got too long.

“Niall from Ireland, is that you?” a loud voice asked over the noise of the crowd.

Niall looked up, meeting Harry’s smiling face. “Yeah, it’s me.” Grinning, he thrust his hand out, passing the freshly laundered sweater to Harry. “I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you. I washed it though.” Niall added.

“No worries pal,” Harry said in a friendly tone, bringing the soft fabric up to his nose and taking a long whiff. “Nice smell you used there.”

Niall couldn't help but smile bashfully. “Thank you? I think,” he replied, sounding unsure if that was the right thing to reply with. Was there a correct way to answer someone when they complimented your laundry detergent? Niall didn't know.

Harry just smiled back, eyes crinkling up at the corners, not responding. This left the two standing next to each other, sort of swaying back and forth, side stepping the crowd.

“Well, it was nice seeing you, but I gotta go catch this movie” Niall said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder.

“Sure thing,” Harry smiled again. “Hope you enjoy.” And he walked away, back towards the employees room, which yeah, Niall missed the location of by a mile.

Niall just nodded to himself as though he would actually pay attention to the film, when in reality he knew all he would be thinking of the entire time would be Harry’s smile and cherry coloured lips that ended in dimples when his grin spread wide enough.

-

Niall kept returning to the theatre after that.

Harry talked to him while he had breaks, all smiles and laughs and sweet comments. They often ended up in conversations about music, or school, which was fine with Niall. He didn’t care what they spoke about as long as he could listen to Harry’s pretty voice.The more Niall showed up to “watch movies” the more he learned about him. With the more he learned, the more his little crush on Harry grew. But he couldn’t let Harry know he wasn’t actually here for the movies, so after twenty minutes or so of chit chat Niall would go queue up for a new movie that he had no clue what was about.

-

“What’s got you so fixed on movies lately, Nialler?” Louis asked one day on their walk home from school, wind biting at their cheeks, turning them a rosy red.

“Um, nothing I s’pose. Just some good new releases.” He replied, attempting to appear nonchalant.

“If you say so, bud. Though, I know for a fact when you went last night the only new movie showing was some romantic comedy.”

“So?” Niall said defensively, pulling his coat farther up around his neck, continuing to trudge on through the thin layer of crunchy snow on the sidewalk.

“Nothing I guess,” Louis gave up, not before rolling his eyes and swinging his arm around Niall’s slender shoulders. “Wanna go for some coffee? It’s a long walk home and my hands are fucking freezing.” He then held up his hand, attempting to bend his numb fingers, and Niall laughed shoving Louis away from him before heading towards the closest café.

-

Once they had been seated at a table, a friend of Louis’ named Zayn showed up and decided to join them in the little booth.

They were complaining about school and sipping on their hot drinks when Niall heard the shop bell went off as another person walked in.

He immediately recognised Harry as he strolled through the door, dusting speckles of snow off of his dark locks. Niall waved hesitantly as he met Harry’s gaze, and Harry smiled warmly back at him before joining the order line.

Zayn and Louis had noticed the small exchange, glancing curiously at Niall.

“Who’s that?” Zayn questioned, and Niall panicked and muttered a quiet answer.

“He works at the movie theatre…”

Louis spluttered on his drink. “You mean the one you've been going to almost everyday these past two weeks? _He’s_ why you like movies all of a sudden?” He whispered incredulously.

“Maybe,” Niall squirmed in his seat, and his discomfort only rose when he saw Harry beginning to walk towards their table. 

“Would you look at that, the miracle worker himself is coming over.” Louis remarked, and Niall groaned.

“Louis, don’t-“

“Hiya, Niall,” Harry rumbled, offering a small wave.

“Hey, Harry.”

“That music you gave me the other day was really, really good, thank you for letting me borrow it, that was cool of you,” Harry said, digging through his bag to hand over Niall’s favourite Eagles album. “Might as well give it to you now, though I was going to give it back tonight anyways. You still planning on coming?” Harry asked, tugging a beanie over his snow dampened hair.

“Definitely,” Niall replied with a grin, smiling big as he tucked his album into his school bag.

“Good,” Harry started to turn away. “I’ll see you around seven, yeah?”

“Yeah, see you!” Niall waved, and watched Harry make his way out of the cosy store.

“Oh my god, Niall.” Louis muttered. “I was so proud of you. I thought you actually liked movies.”

-

Niall might’ve been going to the movies to see Harry for a few weeks, but he hadn’t actually gone to see one _with_ Harry.

Not until tonight, anyways.

As they seated themselves in the very back row, (Niall was _not_ taking any risks.) Harry babbled on about the film they’d be watching.

“Oh yeah, Louis told me about that scene last week!” Niall added, wanting to contribute to their conversation.

“Louis?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, my friend who I was with earlier. He’s movie obsessed, makes me come here all the time. It’s a bit unhealthy if you ask me.” Niall said as he plopped down into the seat, turning to face Harry.

“And here I was thinking you came here for me.” Harry joked lightly, but Niall could see the question floating behind his eyes.

Niall blushed. “Well, I mean…at first I came here because he made me but I- well, I guess I came back because of you…” Niall paused, his words getting quieter and quieter as he went on. “Mostly because I might…most definitely…like you? A lot?”

“That was a pretty good answer,” Harry smiled kindly, slowly bringing his hand up to hold Niall’s face.

“It was?”

“Yeah.” Harry chuckled, before bringing Niall’s head towards his own, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss. Niall let out a surprised “Oh,” as Harry pulled away, pressing one last kiss to Niall’s cheek and settling his arm around his shoulder, guiding him into his firm side.

“Now let’s see if you like this movie.” 

Niall grinned. “Oh I think I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> any mistakes are my own, feedback is always appreciated :-) xo


End file.
